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INSTRUCTOR’S GUIDE TO THE ALLYN & BACON SOCIAL PROBLEMS WEB SITECONTENTS I. How Can You Use the Web Site in Your Social Problems Course?
III What You Will Find in Social Problems on the Net?
I. How Can You Use the Web Site in Your Social Problems Course? You will find text correlations charts linking the Web Site with several different Allyn & Bacon textbooks in social problems. Find the chart for the text you use to see how the Web Site "Problem Areas" correlate with each chapter. You may wish to enter some or all of these problem areas on your course syllabus alongside the chapters you assign. The Allyn & Bacon Social Problems Web Site is built on a systematic but flexible instructional sequence. Preparing your syllabus and course materials with the Web Site in mind will help you maximize its instructional value for students Click here to see a sample syllabus that integrates the Allyn & Bacon Social Problems Web Site with a hypothetical course in introduction to social problems. Preview the Allyn & Bacon Social Problems Web Site at http://www.abacon.com/socprobs to sample and evaluate the resources there and identify those you might wish to use. Section 1 of the Guide describes these features, and Section 2 offers information on the best way to navigate the site. As you survey the media and text resources at the site, consider how you can use them to best advantage in relation to your instructional philosophy and goals. Determine the resources available to students for access to the Internet and plan accordingly. Personal PCs and dorm, library, and computer lab terminals with phone or cable Internet access are now common, even ubiquitous, on college campuses and in homes nationwide, and our research shows that e-mail is fast becoming the medium of choice for direct communications between instructors and students. While online teaching and learning can never replace the classroom experience, the World Wide Web–with high-content sites such as the Allyn & Bacon Social Problems Web Site–is becoming indispensable to education for the 21st century at all levels, including higher education. Instructional Purposes Consider using the Allyn & Bacon Social Problems Web Site resources for any or all of the following instructional purposes:
Possibilities abound. For instance, you might decide to assign all components of problem areas 2, 4, 8, and 12 as part of a unit on problems relating to social inequality. Or you might choose to focus on specific components, such as the opinion polls, or video clips as part of your lectures as you introduce each problem area. Other options are to introduce a problem area by discussing the news item in class or to assign a global awareness activity for each chapter based on the "Cross-Cultural Perspectives" links. Whatever features you decide to emphasize, providing some structure or context for students to use the Allyn & Bacon Social Problems Web Site will ensure that they, and you, get the greatest benefit. Uses in Course Assessment Using the Allyn & Bacon Social Problems Web Site as part of course assessment is an effective way to ensure student participation. You could give students credit for participating in online discussions or using site content in their research. You could ask students to submit Online Activities they choose or to e-mail to you their practice tests and essays directly from the Online Study Guide. You also could receive students’ answers to the questions for "What Are Your Solutions?" to particular social problems, or answers to the Critical Thinking Questions that go with Social Problems Video I. Critical thinking questions for subsequent videos in the series will be added during regular upgrades to the site. Again, possibilities are limited only by the imagination. Introducing the Web Site to Students When the semester begins, as part of your course introduction explain how you plan to use the Allyn & Bacon Social Problems Web Site in your course (or how you envision them using this resource in conjunction with the course). Then give students the http://www.abacon.com/socprobs URL, explaining that parts of this site may have restricted access while other parts are open to all. As an assignment, ask students read the Guide to the Allyn & Bacon Social Problems Web Site, accessible from the homepage. Direct their attention to Section 2, "How to Navigate the Social Problems Web Site." Depending on your students’ background, you might take time to talk them through the site sequence to ensure that everyone will have the same start and to further elaborate the site uses you have planned for your course. II. What Will You Find in Social Problems on the Net The Guide to the Allyn & Bacon Social Problems Web Site also exists as a section in a larger publication, the student supplement Social Problems on the Net, available in both print and electronic form. This supplement contains many additional teaching and learning resources for you and your students. Social Problems on the Net is packed with FAQS and URLs and valuable practical information for students on using the Internet efficiently and productively for research, investigation, communication, participation, and service learning. You might draw students’ attention to the information on "Protecting Your Privacy and Security on the Internet," "Evaluating Information on the Internet," and "Citing Internet Sources," features that can be incorporated in a term paper assignment for your course. In particular we would like to call your attention to the section on service learning, social activism, and human agency, which contains text plus many useful URLs. You will find this section indispensable to you and your students as a starting point if your course includes a service learning or community service component or if you emphasize the role of human agency in the study of social problems. Other human agency themes supported in Social Problems on the Net and on the Allyn & Bacon Social Problems Web Site are social policy, problem solving, conflict resolution, political activism, collective behavior, social movements, social reform, and social change. For your convenience, the entire contents of Social Problems on the Net is listed below:
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